Broadcast radio commercials are really terribly bad. It's difficult to put into words just how banal, grating, and bottom rung they are. Apparently advertising has changed gears across all mediums EXCEPT radio in the last 30 years.

The Geico Gecko is apparently voiced by an actual British guy (currently it's some dude named Jake Wood). Who knew? It screams of horrible fake-ness to me. Like an American trying really hard to do an impersonation of Jason Statham's "london accent" impersonation in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels/ Snatch. He's apparently a regular on Eastenders and had a part in The Illusionist. Somehow his Geico commercials are *worse* on the radio than on TV and I can't really pinpoint why. They just are. I wouldn't be surprised if he were asked to "cockney it up" for the part. At least that's what it sounds like.

Why on earth did they choose that accent for a gecko? Because Outback Steak House has a corner on the "bad fake Aussie" accents and to American ears I guess it's "exotic".